Should You Sell on Craigslist?

Even though you're running a successful eBay business, you're
probably going to be looking for ways to expand, and this usually means finding additional ways to sell items online.

One of the more recent phenomena in the world of online selling is been Craigslist.com.

Craigslist is a network of local online advertising sites that provide mostly free advertising for over 450
cities across the world. With over 30 million users each month (25 million of those in the US alone), should you be
using Craigslist to sell your items?

The simple answer is, it depends. There are a lot of similarities between eBay and
Craigslist, but there are also some fundamental differences.

If we look at a comparison between the two in more detail, you should be able to decide whether Craigslist is
the right way for you make more sales.

Unlike eBay, which enables users to sell worldwide, Craigslist is made up of a network of local
sites. To be able to use it, you first need to make sure there is a site for your particular city or area.

Once you've found your local Craigslist site, it operates in pretty much the same way as traditional classified
advertising.

You place an advert for your product on the site (these are free in most cases), people visit the site, and if
they are interested in your offer, they get in touch. The potential buyer comes and views the product, and decides
whether or not to buy it.

If you use eBay Classifieds, the Craigslist concept isn't that different, but if you use the
traditional eBay listings to sell your items, Craigslist might not be that attractive.

For a start, one of the main benefits of eBay for a lot of people, is that there is no face-to-face selling -
with Craigslist they encourage sellers to deal with each of your customers in person.

Also, eBay's auction format means that when someone places a winning bid, they have committed to buying your
item.

Craigslist customers don't have to commit to a purchase until they have been able to
see and inspect the goods.

This could mean you are constantly meeting people in order to make
sales, and when you consider that unlike eBay, Craigslist has no feedback system to qualify your customers,
you might see your fair share of tyre-kickers.

With Craigslist, you're also pretty limited in terms of what you can do to promote your products
and track your sales and performance.

With the ability to customise your eBay listings with upgrades and templates, open an eBay Store, and track all off your sales and customers with the
various sellers tools that are available, you are better equipped to "manage" a business on eBay than on
Craigslist.

On the face of it, it might seem like there isn't much potential in using Craigslist to grow your business, but
for many sellers, Craigslist could offer some fairly significant benefits.

For example, eBay isn't ideal if you want to sell large items that are difficult to ship, but your
local Craigslist site could be perfect.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of Craigslist is that it's free for all listings except job and personal
ads.

With eBay listing fees and final value fees of up to 9%, if you are selling more expensive items, the increase
in your profits could make using Craigslist worth the extra effort.

Successful sellers should always be looking for new and different ways to sell products and not just relying on
eBay.

With the benefit of free advertising and potentially thousands of customers right on your doorstep, Craigslist
is something you should consider.

However, depending on what and how you like to sell, it's not going to be right for everyone.